Scarlet Macaw

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a large, red, yellow and blue South American parrot, a member of a large group of Neotropical parrots called macaws. It is native to humid evergreen forests of tropical South America. Range extends from extreme south-eastern Mexico to AmazonianPeru, Bolivia and Brazil in lowlands up to 500 m (1,640 ft) (at least formerly) up to 1,000 m (3,281 ft). It has suffered from local extinction through habitat destruction and capture for the parrot trade, but locally it remains fairly common. Formerly it ranged north to southern Tamaulipas. It can still be found on the island of Coiba. It is the national bird of Honduras.

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Taxonomy and naming

The Scarlet Macaw (Ara Macao Linnaeus 1758) is a member of the genus Ara (Lacepede, 1799), one of 6 genera of Central and South American macaws. Carolus Linnaeus described and named the Scarlet Macaw in his Systemae Naturae in 1758. Protonym: Psittacus macao.

The Central American scarlet macaw is larger and has blue on its wings instead of green.

Description

It is about 81 centimetres (32 in) long, of which more than half is the pointed, graduated tail typical of all macaws, though the Scarlet Macaw has a larger percentage of tail than the other large Macaws. The average weight is about 1 kilogram (2.2 lb). The plumage is mostly scarlet, but the rump and tail-covert feathers are light blue, the greater upper wing coverts are yellow, the upper sides of the flight feathers of the wings are dark blue as are the ends of the tail feathers, and the undersides of the wing and tail flight feathers are dark red with metallic gold iridescence. Some individuals may have green in the wings.

There is bare white skin around the eye and from there to the bill. Tiny white feathers are contained on the face patch. The upper mandible is mostly pale horn in color and the lower is black. Juveniles have dark eyes; adults have light yellow eyes.

It is frequently confused with the slightly larger Green-winged Macaw, which has more distinct red lines in the face and no yellow in the wing.

Scarlet Macaws make very loud, high and sometimes low-pitched, throaty squawks, squeaks and screams designed to carry many miles to call for their groups.

The Scarlet Macaw can live up to 75 years in captivity, although a more typical lifespan is 40 to 50 years.[2]

Behavior

A typical sighting is of a single bird or a pair flying above the forest canopy, though in some areas flocks can be seen. They may gather at clay licks.[3]

Feeding

Breeding

Scarlet Macaws mate for life. The hen lays two or three white eggs in a tree cavity. The female incubates the eggs for about five weeks, and the chicks fledge from the nest about 90 days after hatching.[4] and leave their parents about a year later. Juveniles reach sexual maturity at five years of age.

Conservation status

The habitat of Scarlet Macaws is considered to have the greatest latitudinal range for any bird in the genusAra, as the estimated maximum territorial range covers 6,700,000 km². Nevertheless, the Scarlet Macaw’s habitat is fragmented, and the bird is mostly confined to tiny populations scattered throughout its original range in Middle America.[5] However, as they still occur in large numbers over most of their original range in South America, the species is classified by IUCN as "Least Concern".[1]